The primary purpose for owning or leasing a pick-up truck is the ability to haul cargo within the bed of the pick-up truck. The prior art is replete with pick-up truck bed liner assemblies made of molded plastic which provide a durable, attractive, and functional wear surface over the cargo bed area. One example of such a prior art pick-up truck bed liner may be found in U. S. Pat. Reissue No. 32,198, reissued Jul. 8, 1986 and assigned to the assignee of the subject invention.
The tailgate members of such pick-up trucks are of generally uniform construction having a load bearing surface extending between parallel upper swinging and lower pivoted edges. The typical bed liner assembly does not cover the load bearing surface of the tailgate, even though the load bearing surface of the tailgate receives considerable wear due to the loading, unloading or shifting cargo when the tailgate is in both the up and down positions. Hence, a separate tailgate protector assembly is utilized in combination with the prior art truck bed liner to fully and completely protect both the cargo bed area of the pick-up truck and the tailgate.
One example of a prior art tailgate protector assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,503 to Bernatek issued Mar. 19, 1991 and assigned to the assignee of the subject invention. The Bernatek reference discloses a tailgate protector assembly for protecting a vehicular tailgate having a load bearing surface extending between parallel upper swinging and lower pivoted edges. The assembly comprises a shield means for covering the load bearing surface of the tailgate and an integral guard means extending from the shield means for covering the upper swinging edge of the tailgate to provide a durable wear surface thereover. The assembly is secured to the tailgate by threaded fasteners extending through the shield means and piercing the tailgate.
Other examples of prior art tailgate protector assemblies similar to that disclosed in the Bernatek reference may be found in U. S. Pat. No. 4 047 749 to Lambitz et al issued Sept. 13, 1987, and U.S. Pat. No. 30 4 333 678 to Munoz et al issued Jun. 8, 1982. These references, like the Bernatik reference, also disclose tailgate protector assemblies including a shield means for covering the load bearing surface of a tailgate and some form of integral guard means extending from the shield means for covering the upper swinging edge of the tailgate to provide a durable wear surface thereover. These references both disclose threaded fasteners extending through the shield means and piercing the tailgate to anchor the tailgate protector assembly securely to the tailgate.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,481 to Nix et al, issued Sept. 5, 1978, discloses a tailgate protector assembly including a shield means for covering the load bearing surface of a tailgate, and an integral guard means for covering the upper swinging edge of the tailgate to provide a durable wear surface thereover. A resilient retainer means extends from the shield means for engaging the lower pivoted edge of the tailgate in a clip-on manner to secure the assembly upon the tailgate.
Because the upper swinging edge of the tailgate forms a high impact area when long boards or other elongated cargo members are slid over and are supported on the upper swinging edge, the guard means is an indispensable element of the tailgate protector assembly. The guard means typically experiences highly accelerated wear which, in some instances, far exceeds the wear of the shield means.
One additional factor contributing to the accelerated wear of the guard means occurs when a camper top is installed over the bed area of the pick-up truck. Such camper tops typically include an access door disposed directly above the tailgate for providing access to the cargo bed area when the tailgate is in the up position. Frequent opening and closing of this access door on the camper top and vibration of the access door on the upper swinging edge of the tailgate significantly contribute to the accelerated wear of the guard means.
Of course, depending upon the particular uses to which the pick-up truck is put, the shield means may wear more rapidly than the guard means. Hence, the guard means may be in satisfactory useful service but because it is integral with the shield means, both are discarded together when the shield means wear out.
As a result, the entire tailgate protector assemblies of the prior art must be replaced when either one of the shield means or the guard means becomes cracked, worn through, or exceedingly unsightly. This is the case even though the shield means may not need replacing, or vice-versa. Thus, the prior art assemblies promote wasteful practices by requiring the whole tailgate protector assembly to be discarded when only a portion of the assembly, i.e., the guard means or the shield means, becomes worn out.
Another problem with the prior art tailgate assemblies arises because both the shield means and guard means are fabricated integrally from a thermoplastic molded plastic material which is inherently sensitive to sunlight. As a result, warpage of the assembly occurs, thus causing an unsightly, and in some instances nonfunctional, tailgate protector assembly.